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Sharlto Copley Confirmed for 'Oldboy' and Heads for an 'Open Grave'

A few weeks ago, we mentioned that District 9 star Sharlto Copley was offered the villain role in Spike Lee's Oldboy remake opposite Josh Brolin and Elizabeth Olsen. Deadline confirms that piece of info, and they also report that Copley is now set to star in a movie that ironically sounds like it might have a similarly eerie tone to Oldboy. He'll take the lead in Open Grave, in which he wakes up in a pit of rotting corpses with no idea how he got there. He begins having flashbacks of himself murdering people and starts to think that he might be responsible for the pile of bodies surrounding him. That sounds pretty creepy. More below!

Oldboy is a remake of Chan-Wook Park's 2003 film adaptation of the popular manga, and stars Josh Brolin as Joe Douchett, a man randomly imprisoned for 15 years by an unknown captor. When he's suddenly released, he teams with a caseworker (to be played by Elizabeth Olsen) to find out who did this to him and why. Copley will play Adrian Pryce, a billionaire behind it all who wants to make Douchett's life miserable. The disturbing ending of the original film still haunts me to this day, so I wonder if Spike Lee and his writers have the guts to replicate it for American audiences.

Open Grave sounds like a pretty gruesome project, but I can see Copley doing great things if he gets a chance to turn on his panic mode here. He's an interesting guy to watch, and since his performance in Blomkamp's upcoming science fiction film Elysium is still shrouded in secrecy, we'll just have to get excited about this casting announcement until Elysium drops a trailer for its 2013 release. Copley got his acting start late - his feature debut was in District 9 - and I like seeing him on screen because you can tell he's not jaded by the glitz and glamour of Hollywood. His performances feel genuine, and that translates well to the audience. Open Grave will be directed by Apollo 18 filmmaker Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego, so that's not a great sign, but perhaps he'll fare a bit better this time with a film set on earth instead of in space.

remakes, remakes. insert the usual complaints here. Oldboy *is* untouchable. leave it well alone. but then they go and cast Brolin and Copley, both of whom i'll happily watch in anything. those fiendish casting directors.
but good grief, unproven director or not, Open Grave sounds seriously intense. that's going to be a weird marketing campaign.
i agree with Ben about Copley's 'panic mode'. i really felt for his character all the way through District 9, it hurt to watch him sometimes.

bat0u

Oldboy was one movie that I really didn't want to see remade. But now, Brolin and Copley.....i don't know. This could actually by interesting. If anything, this could at least inspire people to watch the original.

arb

Oldboy was perfect. Couldn't be improved on at all. Saying the remake ending will be more disturbing is a bold faced lie. This remake should not happen.
That being said, the casting is done right and I applaud them for that because it makes me interested. At least until I remember Spike Lee is directing it. Despite everything, the one thing that kills this for me is Spike Lee. If they had the Cohen Brothers or maybe Darren Aronofsky do it I would be interested.

Ehsan Davodi

Bad choise for old boy, although the director himself is bad choise too,old boy is masterpiece completely,spike lee not in size of park chan wook
Bad choise for directing and protagonist and antagonist, I only like Olson
This movie Gona be doomed
Look to this picture, the guy in district 9 want play bad guy in old boy?
You fucking kidding me? Even choose some talented unknown guys for talent discovery, this was worst news I heard
I'm out

I hope every Oldboy fan is going to boycott this. I'd love to pay to see the original film in theaters, since I never had a chance to. I'd rather rewatch the original than spend money and time on this which is already starting to look bad.

Marciana

I'm never usually one for the flat-out gore or horror stuff, but I'm at the fangirl level where I would literally watch ANYTHING that Sharlto Copley is in.